A.C. BRADLEY was Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford, UK, until his death in 1935. ROBERT SHAUGHNESSY is Professor of Theatre at the University of Kent, UK. His books include Representing Shakespeare: England History and the RSC (1994) and The Shakespeare Effect: A History of Twentieth-Century Performance (2002); he has edited Shakespeare on Film (1998) and Shakespeare in Performance (2000). He is currently writing the volume on William Shakespeare for the Routledge Critical Guide series and editing the Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare.

A.C. Bradley's "Shakespearean Tragedy", first published in 1904, ranks as one of the greatest works of Shakespearean criticism of all time. This centenary edition includes a new introduction by Robert Shaughnessy which places Bradley's work in the critical, intellectual and cultural context of its time, summarizes the content and argumentative thrust of the book, outlines the critical debates and counter-arguments that have followed in the wake of its publication and, most importantly, prompts readers to engage with the work itself.